Is this a central apnea or something else?
Hi! I keep seeing these in my reports but I'm thinking they look like me taking some deep breaths and then relaxing but I'm not sure exactly what I'm seeing. Depending on the night, of course, I can see a lot of them. Last night happened to be a pretty tame night for a change. I see these a lot in my friend's report as well. I found a graphic on a google search that said they are not a Central Apnea although they are a Clear Airway. But does anyone know what's actually happening when you see these?
RE: Is this a central apnea or something else?
CA, Clear Airway, and Central Apnea can all refer to the same thing. It basically is a long breath pause over 10 seconds, or it can't be flagged as CA. This chart has 2 of these CA in your session. Watch but don't act is my suggestion.
Most people have a few CA naturally, you happen to be on CPAP, with OSCAR. Now you can see them.
No sarcasm, if you had a lot and they were to rob sleep, then there's possible actions. For this specific level, don't ruin the rest of the therapy to avoid these. I say avoid, because with your current machine, you can't treat CA.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEBSITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
RE: Is this a central apnea or something else?
Thanks for your response. As I said in my original post, some nights there are more. However I'm not concerned with their presence. I'm also not identifying them as a Central Apnea but as a Clear Airway. I don't believe they are the same thing and as I said in my original post I am actually looking to identify the event rather than attempting to correct it or to change my therapy. I've been tweaking things for awhile now and am pretty happy with my therapy in general. I'm only posting here to find out if anyone knows what causes an event like that.
RE: Is this a central apnea or something else?
True CAs can be caused by lots of things, including opioids, high altitude, and certain brain conditions.
In the snippet you posted, the CA followed some arousal breathing. As you can see, the arousal breathing is deeper than your sleep breathing. There are two theories about how arousal breathing can lead to a pause of 10 seconds or longer. One is that you've blown off enough CO2 to delay the "breathe-now" signal that your CO2 blood levels send to the brain. Another is that you're responding to signals sent to your brain by sensors in your chest wall. This is called the Hering-Breuer reflex.
It is extremely common to experience arousals and to have CAs follow them. As Dave says, because you are using a machine and have Oscar, you can see them; everyone has them, though.
RE: Is this a central apnea or something else?
That makes sense. Thank you.
